| Such a rigorous system enabled India to achieve high material prosperity by the excellent arrangements it made for training young men in commerce, industry and fine and useful arts. The general [[Principles of Education (शिक्षणसिद्धान्ताः)|principles of education]], which underlay the system, e.g. intellectual freedom, individual attention to students, the monitorial system, [[Gurukula (गुरुकुलम्)|gurukula]] ideal, plain living and high thinking, mass education, combination of useful and liberal education, the location of educational institutions away from the din and dust of the city-life, free education, etc. are inherently sound and capable of yielding excellent results even in modern times when applied with due regard to changed circumstances.<ref name=":0" /> | | Such a rigorous system enabled India to achieve high material prosperity by the excellent arrangements it made for training young men in commerce, industry and fine and useful arts. The general [[Principles of Education (शिक्षणसिद्धान्ताः)|principles of education]], which underlay the system, e.g. intellectual freedom, individual attention to students, the monitorial system, [[Gurukula (गुरुकुलम्)|gurukula]] ideal, plain living and high thinking, mass education, combination of useful and liberal education, the location of educational institutions away from the din and dust of the city-life, free education, etc. are inherently sound and capable of yielding excellent results even in modern times when applied with due regard to changed circumstances.<ref name=":0" /> |
| The Brahmachari starts his career by taking on the '''Savitri Vrata (सावित्रीव्रतम्)''' as a part of the [[Upanayana (उपनयनम्)|Upanayana]] ceremony. [[Brahmacharya (ब्रह्मचर्यम्)|Brahmacharya]] literally means "attendance on Brahma or Veda” and involves the observances which the student has to keep through certain periods of time before the different Vedic texts which he has to learn can be taught him. Thus the study of the Veda is opened by the Savitri vrata. Based on the varna of the student, the Savitri taught to him varies with different Chandas. This Vrata might last for a time period ranging from three days to one year. According to Paraskara [ii, 4, 3, 6], the Savitri Vrata may last for one year, six months, twenty-four days, twelve days, six days, or three days. Many observe a period of three days for this first of the Brahmacharin's vratas. During this time, the student had to live on special food, which was not to be either pungent or saline, or milk, and to beg that food from different women both from the household as well as the neighborhood. Manu [ii, 50] mentions that the pupil must beg food first from his mother, then from his sister, then from his own maternal aunt and then from a female who will not disgrace him by a refusal.<ref name=":1">Mookerji. Radha Kumud, (1947) Ancient Indian Education (Brahminical and Buddhist) London: MacMillan And Co., Ltd. (Page 182-190)</ref> | | The Brahmachari starts his career by taking on the '''Savitri Vrata (सावित्रीव्रतम्)''' as a part of the [[Upanayana (उपनयनम्)|Upanayana]] ceremony. [[Brahmacharya (ब्रह्मचर्यम्)|Brahmacharya]] literally means "attendance on Brahma or Veda” and involves the observances which the student has to keep through certain periods of time before the different Vedic texts which he has to learn can be taught him. Thus the study of the Veda is opened by the Savitri vrata. Based on the varna of the student, the Savitri taught to him varies with different Chandas. This Vrata might last for a time period ranging from three days to one year. According to Paraskara [ii, 4, 3, 6], the Savitri Vrata may last for one year, six months, twenty-four days, twelve days, six days, or three days. Many observe a period of three days for this first of the Brahmacharin's vratas. During this time, the student had to live on special food, which was not to be either pungent or saline, or milk, and to beg that food from different women both from the household as well as the neighborhood. Manu [ii, 50] mentions that the pupil must beg food first from his mother, then from his sister, then from his own maternal aunt and then from a female who will not disgrace him by a refusal.<ref name=":1">Mookerji. Radha Kumud, (1947) Ancient Indian Education (Brahminical and Buddhist) London: MacMillan And Co., Ltd. (Page 182-190)</ref> |
− | Next follows the '''Anuvaachana (अनुवाचन)''', or the way of studying the Veda, which can be done only after the Shukriya Vrata has been enjoined on the student. Before that nothing but the Savitri can be taught to him. Finally, the student has to undertake '''Shakvara (शक्वर), Vraatika (व्रातिक) and Aupanishada (औपनिषद)''' vratas, each of which is to last for one year, referring to the different parts of the Aranyakas. These three are special Vratas connected with the character of mystical secrecy or "rahasya" attributed to the Aranyaka. After the lapse of the year through which the Vrata is kept, a ceremony is performed called '''Uddeekshanika (उद्दीक्षणिक)''', i.e. the giving up of the Diksha or preparatory observance for the study of the Aranyaka texts. This vrata consists chiefly in the teacher’s ascertaining whether the student has fulfilled the duties involved in the Vrata after which the Aranyaka texts are taught to the student in the prescribed way. In this way, we find special observances to undertake study of different parts of the Vedas and [[Vaidika Vangmaya (वैदिकवाङ्मयम्)|Vaidika vangmaya]]. And these vratas vary with different different Vedas studied by the students.<ref name=":1" />
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